# Step 5: Holistic Synthesis

> 5 project-level questions that go BEYOND individual checklists.
> Prevents "checklist blindness" — passing all items but missing systemic issues.

## Questions (answer ALL 5)

### Q1. Architecture Coherence
"Do all components fit together logically? Or are there design contradictions between modules?"

### Q2. Risk Surface
"What is the single biggest risk to this project? Not from a checklist — from holistic observation."

### Q3. Team Capability
"Based on code quality variance across files, are there capability gaps? (junior vs senior patterns)"

### Q4. Technical Debt Trajectory
"Is debt increasing or decreasing? Evidence: TODO count, complexity trends, test coverage direction."

### Q5. Production Readiness
"If deployed tomorrow at 10x current load, what breaks first? What is the weakest link?"

## Answer Format (per question)

- **Assessment**: [1-2 sentences]
- **Evidence**: file:line or metric
- **Severity**: Systemic-Critical | Systemic-Warning | Observation
- **Counter-argument**: Why it might be acceptable
